Health Department announces roll-out of new mobile app
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By Carmen Ensinger
Greene Prairie Press
Could it be that the impossible has happened? Could it be that Facebook has become outdated as far as dispensing information?
Local agencies, such as the Greene County Health Department, has come to depend on the social media platform to dispense information, but they have also come to the realization that the platform is only as good as those who share it.
“It is pretty obvious that people are using websites less and less and on Facebook, messages do show up, but if they are not liked and shared a lot, people don’t tend to see them,” Greene County Health Department Public Health Administrator Molly Peters said. “We decided that a mobile app might be a more effective way to go. So, when there is an emergency or when there is information you really want people to hear and know, you have a better chance of reaching them.”
So, with funds received from an Emergency Response grant, they had a mobile app designed and created for the county. The app has channels not only for the county but also for each police department in the county as well as the Sheriff’s Department.
“We are adding channels for our law enforcement so if they have any sort of information they want to send out, such as an upcoming road closure, they can send it out via the app,” Peters said. “Or, they might have some other specific public safety information they might like to get out. It just gives local law enforcement another way to communicate to the public.”
The app can be downloaded for free from Google Play or the Apple App Store and the more who download and use the app will assure of its continued availability.
“The appl may only be a temporary feature of the county, depending on how much it is used,” Peters said. “We will continually evaluate it to see how often it is used by our public and see if there might be any way we can improve it or possibly expand it if necessary.”
The app can be found by searching for “Greene County IL Health Department in the above app stores.
